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Death penalty fails to serve victims’ kin

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Sunday January 26, 2014 11:00 AM

I respond, in part, to several letters to the editor recently concerning the execution of Dennis
McGuire on Jan. 16. Many people feel that McGuire should indeed have experienced agony and terror
in his death because of the nature of his crime.

No one suggests that the death of Joy Stewart was not a horrific crime.

However, the Stewart family must continue to grieve their loss with additional pressure and
attention from the media.

After decades of news stories, the victim’s family must weather another storm of public
attention.

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter how we kill our inmates; it’s that we kill them at all. Ohio needs
to get rid of the death penalty so that victims’ families can heal without constant public
exposure.

Alternative sentencing options would bring quicker closure to families and, at the same time,
protect the public from potential future harm by the offender.

Many people believe that the death penalty is cost-effective, but the death penalty’s complexity
and lengthy appeals make it much more expensive for taxpayers. Capital punishment is a bloated
government program that has bogged down law enforcement, delayed justice for victims’ families and
devoured millions of crime-fighting dollars that could save lives and protect the public.